Abstract or Table of Contents

Abstract: Moderated group discussions - so-called focus groups - have for some time been efficient and low-cost instruments for carrying out commercial market and opinion research. The further development of qualitative research methods has enabled a reconsideration of this research method and its adaptation for use in educational, media and health research. Focus groups are often used as a method for supplementing quantitative research, either in the validation of results or in the further exploration of target groups identified through statistical investigation but also in generating or in testing hypotheses. However, focus groups are particularly useful as a method of understanding the way in which reality is constructed by groups and of analyzing the process of opinion development within a group. In this respect the advantages of using focus group discussions are still underdeveloped.;